Chad Walter

NASCAR crew chief

Chad Walter

Personal information

Full name| Charles David Walter
Nationality|  American
Born|  (1971-06-10) June 10, 1971 (age 53)
Albion, New York, U.S.
Sport
Country| United States
Sport| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Team| 71\. Spire Motorsports

Charles David Walter (born June 10, 1971) is a NASCAR crew chief who works for Spire Motorsports as the crew chief of the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Rajah Caruth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

## Career

[edit]

Walter landed his first crew chiefing job in 2005, calling the shots for Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Busch Series team with drivers Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Adrián Fernández, Kyle Krisiloff, and Justin Labonte in 2005 and 2006. He had previously worked as an engineer for Hendrick as well as Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

Walter was the crew chief for the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Busch Series in 2007, working with drivers Casey Mears and Landon Cassill. In 2008, when Hendrick's Nationwide team merged into JR Motorsports, Walter moved to JRM. Since the No. 24 team was shut down as part of the merger, he became crew chief of the No. 5 car, replacing Mike Bumgarner, who remained with Hendrick.

In late February 2008, he was suspended for six races for having an illegal rear spoiler in the opening inspection on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s racecar. He was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until December 31, 2008. He resigned from JR Motorsports in July 2008 before the race at IRP.[1]

After not working for any team for the remainder of 2008, he joined Penske Racing's No. 12 Nationwide Series team as the crew chief for rookie Justin Allgaier for the 2009 season. They did not win any races that year, but they finished sixth in points. The duo remained together in 2010, and they did score their first win at the spring Bristol race. Allgaier finished fourth in points and was the highest finishing Nationwide Series regular in the standings.

Due to sponsor Verizon leaving NASCAR after 2010, the No. 12 team could not find enough sponsorship, and Allgaier left for Turner Motorsports for 2011. However, Walter remained with Penske and continued to crew chief the same car when it was fielded part-time for Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish would run twelve races that year, picking up one win at Phoenix towards the end of the season. Additional sponsorship was found after they scored that win, which enabled the team to go back to full-time in 2012. Despite finishing fourth in the standings, Hornish went winless.

Walter left for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2013 to work as an engineer. He returned to crew chiefing when MWR fielded a third part-time car, the No. 66, for owner Michael Waltrip, Brett Moffitt, and Jeff Burton, who joined MWR from Richard Childress Racing after semi-retiring.

When MWR closed down after 2015, Walter was picked up by Tommy Baldwin Racing to work on their No. 7 car as the head of engineering.[2] However, TBR would also go on to close down (after 2016), leaving him without a job again.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Walter joined Richard Childress Racing as an engineer in 2017, where according to Racing-Reference, he also served for one race at Talladega as the interim crew chief for Daniel Hemric's No. 21 Xfinity Series team. After one year with RCR, he moved to DGR-Crosley starting in 2018, where he also served as an engineer.

Before the 2019 season, Walter was supposed to be the car chief for Ty Gibbs' No. 17 team in the K&N East Series for DGR-Crosley, but ahead of the season, he was given another hefty suspension, this time for illegally testing in January of that year. His L-6 suspension was originally indefinitely,[3] but the team appealed and the suspension was reduced.[4] It is unclear when exactly he was reinstated by NASCAR, but after returning, he served as the engineer for Tyler Ankrum's No. 17 team in the Truck Series.[5]

Walter returned to crew chiefing in 2020, leaving DGR-Crosley to join GMS Racing to work on their new No. 26 truck, driven by Ankrum after he also left DGR.[5] In 2021, GMS switched Walter and their No. 24 crew chief Charles Denike, with Walter becoming the crew chief of the No. 24, now driven by Raphaël Lessard, and Denike becoming the crew chief for the No. 26 of Ankrum.[6]

He left GMS to be the crew chief for Our Motorsports' new No. 27 car in the Xfinity Series in 2022, driven by Jeb Burton.[7]

Walter returned to GMS in 2023 to be the crew chief for Rajah Caruth in the No. 24 truck.[8]

## Personal life

[edit]

Walter attended Cornell University where he joined the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers' race car design team. His design team won the national championship twice, enhancing his love for racing. He is married to Sherry Walter.[citation needed]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Unknown". [permanent dead link‍]
2. ^ "Tommy Baldwin Racing restructures with an eye toward improvement". Fox Sports. December 21, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
3. ^ Walters, Shane (January 31, 2019). "Ty Gibbs handed NASCAR penalty ahead of season opener". Racing News. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
4. ^ Walters, Shane (February 21, 2019). "Ty Gibbs penalty upheld with modifications". Retrieved December 19, 2019.
5. ^ a b McFadin, Daniel (December 13, 2019). "GMS Racing reveals full-time driver-crew chief lineup, number assignments". NBC Sports.
6. ^ "GMS Racing announces 2021 crew chief lineup". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 8, 2021.
7. ^ Srigley, Joseph (December 16, 2021). "Our Motorsports Fielding Three Xfinity Series Entries in 2022 for Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
8. ^ "GMS Racing sets crew chief lineup for 2023 season". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.

## External links

[edit]

* Chad Walter crew chief statistics at Racing-Reference

* v
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* e

Spire Motorsports

Headquarters: Mooresville, North Carolina

Personnel|

* Spire Sports + Entertainment
* Jeff Dickerson
* T. J. Puchyr
* Doug Duchardt
* Joey Dennewitz
* Mike Greci
* Kevin Manion
* Peter Sospenzo
* Steve Letarte

NASCAR Cup Series|

| Drivers|

* (7) Justin Haley
* (71) Michael McDowell
* (77) Carson Hocevar

|

Crew chiefs|

* (7) Rodney Childers
* (71) Travis Peterson
* (77) TBA

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series|

| Drivers|

* (7) TBA
* (71) TBA
* (77) TBA

|

Crew chiefs|

* (7) TBA
* (71) TBA
* (77) TBA

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series|

* (8) Malik Ray
* (77) Casey Kirwan

Former drivers|

* Justin Allgaier
* Marco Andretti
* Stanton Barrett
* Josh Berry
* Josh Bilicki
* Alex Bowman
* Clint Bowyer
* Kyle Busch
* William Byron
* Rajah Caruth
* Landon Cassill
* Ross Chastain
* Jonathan Davenport
* James Davison
* Ty Dillon
* Chase Elliott
* Stewart Friesen
* Joey Gase
* Austin Hill
* Timmy Hill
* Quin Houff
* Blake Jones
* D. J. Kennington
* Derek Kraus
* Carson Kvapil
* Corey LaJoie
* Kyle Larson
* Dylan Lupton
* B. J. McLeod
* Jamie McMurray
* Connor Mosack
* Andrés Pérez de Lara
* Chase Purdy
* Ben Rhodes
* Layne Riggs
* Mike Rockenfeller
* Sammy Smith
* Zane Smith
* Garrett Smithley
* Reed Sorenson
* J. J. Yeley
* Connor Zilisch

Former personnel|

* Stephen Doran
* Luke Lambert
* Brian Pattie
* Ryan Sparks
* Jason Trinchere
* Chad Walter

Partnerships and affiliations|

* Bret Holmes Racing
* Hendrick Motorsports
* JR Motorsports
* Rev Racing
* Team AmeriVet
* Trackhouse Racing

Buyouts and mergers|

* Furniture Row Racing
* Kyle Busch Motorsports
* Leavine Family Racing

* v
* t
* e

Our Motorsports

Headquarters: Welcome, North Carolina

Personnel|

* Chris Our
* Mary Our
* Vic Reynolds
* Kevin Cope

NASCAR Xfinity Series|

| Drivers|

* (5) Kris Wright

|

Crew chiefs|

* (5) Joshua Graham

Former personnel|

* Andy Seuss
* Pat Tryson
* Chad Walter

Former drivers|

* Anthony Alfredo
* Sebastian Arias
* Jairo Avila Jr.
* Tommy Barrett Jr.
* Tanner Berryhill
* Brandon Brown
* Jeb Burton
* Benny Chastain
* Natalie Decker
* Austin Dillon
* Ty Dillon
* Patrick Emerling
* Sage Karam
* Andy Lally
* Keith McGee
* C. J. McLaughlin
* Brett Moffitt
* Ronnie Osmer
* Blaine Perkins
* Tyler Reddick
* Parker Retzlaff
* Keith Rocco
* Andy Seuss
* David Starr
* Kyle Weatherman
* Jason White
* Josh Williams
* J. J. Yeley

Partnerships and affiliations|

* FRS Racing
* Richard Childress Racing

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